Fewer illegal immigrants arrested at Fort Lee

FORT LEE -- The number of illegal immigrants arrested while attempting to enter Fort Lee has dropped significantly this year, despite a boom in construction at the Army installation.

To date this year, 24 undocumented immigrants have been arrested at base identification checkpoints, including four painters who tried to sneak onto the base in October by hiding under tarps inside a van, Fort Lee officials said.

The number of arrests is considerably lower than last year, when base authorities detained 83 illegal immigrants, and 2007, when 89 were arrested. In 2006, there were 15 arrests of illegal immigrants.

The construction boom taking place as part of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission plan was a key cause of the increase in arrests in 2007 and 2008, base officials said. With 20 active construction projects totaling $693 million this year, base officials expected the arrest trend to continue.

But successful enforcement during the past three years and a more aggressive program to educate contractors and subcontractors about the requirements to enter the fort have played roles in this year's reduction, base Police Chief Joseph Metzger said.

Another reason for the drop, however, could be that the installation did not have ID checkpoints in place for most of the year at the new Ordnance School Campus on state Route 144, where nine construction projects were active this year.

Until September, the campus was not gated, and construction workers entering the work sites there were not required to go through an ID screening process, Metzger said.

Of the 20 active BRAC projects, seven are at the Ordnance School Campus. Two big projects, including the $47 million Tactical Support Equipment Department and the $29 million Army Ordnance Dining Facility, were completed this year before entrance security was put in place.

Between 1,800 and 2,100 people worked at Fort Lee BRAC projects during the peak construction period last spring and summer, said William G. Robson with the Army Corps of Engineers. The number was up from 700 to 900 workers on a given day last year.

The arrests in the past three years mainly have been of construction workers with Latin American backgrounds, but they also have included Asians and people from other backgrounds, Metzger said.

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Immigration and Customs Enforcement statistics show a nationwide drop in immigration arrests at critical infrastructure facilities, such as military installations.

In fiscal 2009, which ended Sept. 30, ICE made 342 administrative arrests and 104 criminal arrests at critical infrastructure facilities across the country. That was down from fiscal 2008, when federal authorities reported more than 700 administrative and 100 criminal arrests at such facilities.

"ICE works closely with our federal, state and local law-enforcement partners in the National Capital Region to secure critical infrastructure facilities," said James A. Dinkins, special agent in charge of ICE's Office of Investigations in Washington.

He said the agency's work-site enforcement strategy, however, focuses on the employers.

"Our resources are better spent on getting employers in compliance and changing their behavior, rather than arresting individual employees," he said.

Fort Lee also has turned to contractors as an enforcement strategy, base authorities said. The installation sends warnings to contractors who hire subcontractors suspected of hiring illegal immigrants; often, the contractors fire those subcontractors.

The good relationship with contractors has resulted in some subcontractors sharing intelligence about others who bring undocumented immigrants to work at the installation, officials said.

"It is with the second and third layer of [subcontractors] where we continually have our problems," Metzger said, noting that workers often don't know they are going into an installation where they would be asked for identification and where officers are trained in recognizing fake IDs.

Fort Lee authorities turn people away if they don't have proper identification to enter the installation, but if someone tries to enter the installation fraudulently, they apprehend them and turn them over to the U.S. attorney's office, Metzger said.

"Generally, individuals arrested for false identification are cited and ordered to appear in federal court at a later date," said Peter Carr, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. "If convicted in court, they are ordered to report to ICE for further proceedings. If they fail to appear in federal court, the court issues a bench warrant for their arrest."

In a recent case, on Oct. 21, Fort Lee authorities apprehended four Hispanic men who were heading to the Ordnance School Campus to do some painting. Fort Lee authorities had received information from another subcontractor that the men were hidden in the van.

The authorities arrested the four men and turned their driver, Hector Reyes, over to the U.S. attorney's office. Reyes is facing a misdemeanor violation of aiding and abetting, Carr said.

The four suspected illegal immigrants have a court hearing today.

"It is a tough job because a lot of these people that come here are honest workers," Metzger said. "It is tough, but we got a job to do.

"If you are willing to lie to get on post or give a fake ID or something, why would you not be a risk?" he said. "People being deceptive raise a red flag, and our number one priority here is protecting our soldiers, their families, civilians, and people that work here."

Contact Luz Lazo at (804) 649-6058 or .